I’m not part of the SIF’s old guard who can still trace their membership back to the 1970s or even the 1960s, so there was a marked background and generation gap between us. In all my years as a senior officer of the SIF, I can only recall one direct conversation with him. We’d finished an SIF management meeting at the Westminster Arms in London when he approached me and started talking. He was so quiet and diffident that it took me a while to realise that he was actually talking to me! Bizarrely, it was about the postcode system in London.

Nevertheless, in my brief acquaintanceship I found him engaging. Despite being a product of the suburban bourgeoisie, I found it a little endearing that the SIF contained a lingering measure of feudal deference. Whereas for everyone else it was “Nigel this” or “Mike that”, it was always “Lord Monson”!

As the editor of the SIF’s journal, The Individual, I’ll try to collect for the next issue a few reminiscences from senior members who knew him better that I did. Any recipients of this email who have something that they’d like to contribute, please get in touch with me.